Mr. Kane Got Blacklisted

Everyone could see what was happening. At the crucial moment of the competition, Darcie teamed up with Mallory and Jaylene. The reason was obvious. The prize pool was 10 million, with 80% going to the winner. To get a reward, you had to make it to the top ten, which was no easy feat. In reality, it was more about appearances than a fair competition.

Stella suggested expanding the prize to the top 20 and excluding Jaylene, making it easier for everyone to win something.

The 8 million championship prize was still up for grabs, and with Jaylene out of the picture, who wouldn’t want to give it a shot?

People in the room exchanged looks, each considering their chances.

Darcie didn’t need a vote to know the outcome. She looked at Stella and smiled. “No need to vote. I think your idea is good. Let’s go with it. I hope everyone does their best. I’ll personally host a banquet to celebrate.”

Stella met her gaze and smiled back. “Then I wish you all success in advance.”

She started clapping, and everyone followed. As their eyes met, they silently acknowledged the tension between them.

Jaylene was furious. She stormed out as soon as the meeting ended and collided with a secretary carrying documents. Papers scattered everywhere. “Are you blind?” Jaylene snapped, her anger flaring.

The secretary turned pale and quickly apologized.

Darcie frowned and called Jaylene’s name, but Jaylene ignored her, shoved the secretary aside, and slammed the door on her way out, making a loud noise.

“Aunt, is Jaylene upset? I didn’t

comment made Darcie’s blood

suggested the prize pool to me in the first place. She probably feels embarrassed that it seems

Aunt, please tell her that after the competition, I’ll treat

nodded, said nothing more, and quickly

watched her go, then stood up to return to her

both individual and group rounds. Points accumulated with each round, and the lowest scores were eliminated. The highest

could take several rounds to recover from, making a comeback in the final round almost impossible. It tested not only a perfumer’s talent

overall. Mallory even took third place, Sonia was sixth, followed by Kiara at thirteenth, and Jaylene at nineteenth. Additionally, six others

rankings were somewhat random. Otherwise, how could someone like Jaylene make it into

or assigned randomly by the system. Jaylene would definitely team up

the meeting, Stella had asked Sonia about her plans for choosing teammates. Sonia had said that random pairing would be fine. Stella, however, felt that random

on good terms with several other competitors from the company. Asking her directly might be awkward—if she already had a partner, refusing her would be uncomfortable, and agreeing would risk offending

more people and marked two with calm personalities. She planned to ask them later. Just then, there was a knock on her office door. Kiara came in, holding two grapefruits. “Boss Jewell,

file. “No,

placed the grapefruits on her desk. “Boss Jewell, I’d like you to talk to Sonia for me and see if she’d be

surprised. “No one

looked a bit embarrassed. “They did, but I didn’t agree. I want to team up with Sonia. When she created that S essential oil, it really impressed me. She made it into the top ten in the preliminary round